Still, what has been lacking is a full appreciation of what the entire staff accomplished as they powered the team to 100 regular-season victories.

St. Louis’ team ERA of 2.94 was not only the lowest in all of Major League Baseball this season, it is the best by any team in the game over the last 27 years. It is the lowest by a Cardinals staff since 1969, way back when Bob Gibson was in his prime.

The low run-scoring was helped by the staff limiting the opposition to a .210 batting average with runners in scoring position. It was the team’s lowest such mark since 1974.

The Cards held their opposition to two or fewer runs in 80 of their 162 games (49%), which was 16 more games than the next closest team, San Francisco. St. Louis went 68‐12 in those 80 contests. It was the most two-or-fewer-runs allowed games by a Cardinals staff since 1968, “The Year of the Pitcher,” and the most in the majors since the 1972 Baltimore Orioles of Palmer, Dobson, Cuellar and McNally.

Think about that for a moment. Impressively, these 2015 feats were accomplished essentially without Wainwright, their ace.

Just looking at this season alone, the National League average team ERA was almost an entire run higher, at 3.90.

Here are individual numbers for starters first, followed by the relievers.

Starters

Pitcher

Sts

QS

QS%

ERA

FIP

W-L

WL%

Team

Tm%

AvgIP

K/9

BB/9

K/BB

Spt

Jaime Garcia

20

15

75%

2.43

3.00

10-6

63%

13-7

65%

6.1

6.7

2.1

3.2

3.1

John Lackey

33

26

79%

2.77

3.57

13-10

57%

17-16

52%

6.2

7.2

2.2

3.3

3.8

Lance Lynn

31

19

61%

3.03

3.44

12-11

52%

17-14

55%

5.2

8.6

3.5

2.5

3.1

Carlos Martinez

29

20

69%

3.01

3.21

14-6

70%

22-7

76%

6.0

9.3

3.2

2.9

4.1

Michael Wacha

30

19

63%

3.38

3.87

17-7

71%

21-9

70%

6.0

7.6

2.9

2.6

5.1

Tim Cooney

6

2

33%

3.16

3.58

1-0

100%

2-4

33%

5.1

8.3

2.9

2.9

4.2

Marco Gonzales

1

0

0%

13.50

8.38

0-0

NA

1-0

100%

2.2

3.4

3.4

1.0

8.0

Tyler Lyons

8

2

25%

4.10

4.53

3-1

75%

4-4

50%

5.1

8.9

2.3

4.0

5.8

Adam Wainwright

4

3

75%

1.44

2.13

2-1

67%

3-1

75%

6.0

6.5

1.3

5.0

3.5

Totals

162

106

65%

2.99

3.48*

72-42

58%

100-62

62%

6.0

7.9

4.0

Relievers

Pitcher

ERA

FIP

WAR

Sv/Op

Sv %

Hd

FBF/R

FBF%

IR/S

IRS%

Trevor Rosenthal

2.10

2.42

2.0

48/51

94%

0

68/49

72%

14/3

21%

Kevin Siegrist

2.17

2.91

1.4

6/10

60%

28

81/64

79%

24/5

21%

Steve Cishek *

2.31

4.33

-0.1

4/9

44%

10

59/37

63%

17/11

65%

Seth Maness

4.26

3.78

0.3

3/6

50%

21

76/51

67%

59/14

24%

Carlos Villanueva

2.95

3.74

0.2

2/2

100%

1

35/22

63%

6/1

17%

Randy Choate

3.95

3.68

0.1

1/1

100%

9

71/42

59%

57/8

14%

Jonathan Broxton *

2.66

3.56

0.1

0/3

0%

16

66/42

64%

12/6

50%

Matt Belisle

2.67

3.64

0.1

0/1

0%

12

34/19

56%

11/4

36%

Sam Tuivailala

3.07

3.82

0.1

0/0

2

14/9

64%

3/2

67%

Miguel Socolovich

1.82

2.76

0.4

0/0

1

23/18

78%

7/1

14%

Tyler Lyons #

2.95

0/0

1

9/6

67%

6/2

33%

Mitch Harris

3.67

5.39

-0.3

0/0

0

23/15

65%

4/0

0%

Adam Wainwright #

3.00

0/0

0

3/3

100%

0/0

totals

2.82

62/77

81%

88

515/351

68%

211/50

24%

* StL ERA/FIP, full

yr for other stats

# as reliever

Just like following the team’s unprecedented hitting success with runners in scoring position a few years ago, one cannot expect historic results every season. While pitching should again be a strength of the 2016 Cardinals, more offensive help may be needed for the team to have a realistic chance to repeat 100 wins.